Wow. I just watched four (4!!!!) outstanding demos for four different shows. They were incredible. What was so fantastic about them? I’ll tell ya… Each demo covered four vital subjects: Characters, Settings, Stakes, and Stories, and showed me how they
If You Love Something Set It Free
They say, “If you love something set it free. If it comes back it’s yours forever.” When it’s time to take your first show to market you’re going to feel a lot of things: pride at having finished what you
Character and Logline
Anyone gotta match? I just read a pitch. It started with the logline; great. However, the logline said one thing, and then the pitch talked about another. The logline was about a setting. The pitch was about a character. When
Maui Anyone?
Brevity. I’m leaving on vacation in less than an hour, so what better topic to discuss than brevity. Emails. Phone calls. One Sheets. These all have one thing in common; they provide you with the opportunity to be loquacious; to
Medium Rare Please
How do you like your stakes? I personally like them big and rare. But Broadcast Executives like them big and often. So what are the stakes for the characters in your show? What do they need to accomplish and what
That’s F@&K’n Stupid!
Research, social media, and your face. As you research television shows that are in a similar genre to yours it’s not uncommon that you’ll have to watch some shows that you consider to be utter crap. Some of them probably
You Got Talent?
Are you bringing any talent to the table? No, I’m not being mean. I mean do you have any talent attached to your show. If your show revolves around a specific person, it could be in your best interest
Producer/Director Wanted?
I got an email from a reader a few weeks ago with a pretty good question. It went like this: Do u have a producer friend? Seems its best to have a producer on board when pitching to a network.
$12,000,000 Jackpot!!!
You can’t win if you don’t play I was sitting in an airport lounge this morning waiting to fly to LA for some meetings and I struck up a conversation with a fella sitting beside me. We were talking about
The Secret Ingredient
I was making a pizza the other day (“making a pizza” means putting extra toppings on a frozen pizza), but when I looked in the fridge I didn’t have any pepperoni. It was a nasty day outside and it ticked
TV Writers Summit
If you’re keeping your eye on upcoming TV Festivals you know Real Screen Summit in Washington, DC is a big one. It’s also nearly $1900 US. Plus of course, your cost of travel and hotels. If you’re ready to pitch
My Top 25 TV Shows
I ran into a buddy the other night. He’s a musician, or more specifically, a rapper. He’s had great success with it and in the last couple years has decided to move into television development. So, like many of us,